Coventry professor joins star-studded speaker line-up at global sports forum
University news
Monday 26 November 2012
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A professor at Coventry University’s Business School has been invited to speak alongside a roster of globally-renowned sporting stars at the inaugural Doha GOALS sports forum in Qatar.
Simon Chadwick, the world’s first professor of sport business strategy and marketing, will join the likes of Oscar Pistorius, Lord Sebastian Coe, Carl Lewis and Ian ‘Thorpedo’ Thorpe on the speaker line-up for the event in December.
The Doha GOALS forum – which is organised by the team behind the World Economic Forum in Davos, and is described as the ‘gathering of all leaders in sport’ – aims to harness the power and influence of sport to tackle the most pressing social and economic issues around the world.
Organisers of the event hope the star-studded cast of guests at the conference will help draw attention to the values being promoted through the initiative, which include cross culture cooperation, the integration of women and minorities through sport and the use of sport as a tool for educating the young.
Professor Chadwick has been asked to contribute to a key taskforce group at the forum, focusing on ways to improve the financial health of sport and enhance its value for organisations looking to use sport as a business platform.
Earlier this year Professor Chadwick was named by the Independent newspaper as one of its top 10 most influential British Twitter users in the field of business, ranking just behind the likes of Sir Richard Branson, Lord Sugar and TV ‘Dragon’ Peter Jones.
Speaking about his latest achievement, Professor Chadwick – whose Twitter ID is @Prof_Chadwick – said:
It’s a huge honour and a privilege to be invited to be a part of such an important, prestigious and high-level initiative on the world sports scene.
Globally, sport currently faces a number of challenges which require consensus, strong leadership and decisive action if they’re to be addressed effectively. Doha GOALS represents the sort of collaborative effort that we need. Not only is it seeking to highlight some of the most pressing issues in sport, it also aims to identify measures to ensure that sport retains its preeminent position in the global community. I very much look forward to being a part of that effort.
The Doha GOALS forum will take place from December 10th-12th 2012 at the Aspire Zone Foundation in Doha, the capital city of Qatar. To find out more about the forum, please visit www.dohagoals.com.
